


The Great Intergalactic Holidaying Disaster

by xiushine



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Appearance of Doctor Who Characters and Monsters, Character Study, Friendship, Gen, MAMA Powers AU, Minor Violence, Relationship Study, Self-Defense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-15
Updated: 2017-12-15
Packaged: 2019-02-15 06:10:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13024896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xiushine/pseuds/xiushine
Summary: Basically, the boys go out to have a good time and get so attacked.





	The Great Intergalactic Holidaying Disaster

**Author's Note:**

> With this fic, I wanted to explore the possibilities of superpowered exo, without the contexts of them being superheroes, or having some great destiny to fulfill. The outcome was a fic with casual use of powers and the resulting shenanigans. Of course, I couldn't resist adding in some fight scenes to showcase each member's powers as well.
> 
> I also wanted to write a story about the ways the boys interact with each other and as a result, there are several scenes in this fic that are a little slower in pace and don’t technically serve to progress the plot of the story. Nevertheless, I wanted to add in these scenes to show the intimacy and closeness between each member, I hope readers enjoy these little scenes as much as I have enjoyed writing them.
> 
> Some of the aliens in this fic are borrowed from the Doctor Who universe and are not my creations, namely the Adipose, Weeping Angels, Cassandra and the mechanical diners.

 

In a world where everyone is special, nobody is really special. On a planet where the people are all born with unique abilities, the novelty of ‘superpowers’ has long since worn out. Nevertheless, the strong hold the privilege of influence over lesser beings and the burden of maintaining that sovereignty.

For millennia, Exoplanet has been a pinnacle at the heart of the flourishing galaxy of Somarion. Its legacy predates even the myths and legends of the universe, known throughout time as a powerful entity. Their orbital territory is heavily fortified, with the strongest of their kind keeping vigilant guard. Their rule remains unchallenged and unquestioned.

 

 

***

 

 

“This is the officially the best idea we’ve ever had.” Chanyeol yells excitedly, arms full with his bags.

The trip had been in planning for a long time, with the boys waiting for the last of them to graduate before they embarked on a post-graduation celebratory holiday together. With the youngest two, Jongin and Sehun, finally done with school, the trip could finally become a reality.

The idea was originally Baekhyun’s. Ever ready for adventure, and frankly already tired of school, Baekhyun had proposed the idea to the group sometime in the middle of his own university term. Everyone was up for it, but with some of them just starting university and others in their finishing year, it was difficult to find a common time for the trip amidst all their varying commitments. Eventually, Junmyeon had proposed that they waited until everyone had graduated, and hold the trip as a celebration of freedom. Thus, for the next few years, the boys had to content themselves with researching and planning, agreeing on dream destinations and perfecting their ideal itinerary.

The spaceship was a loan from Junmyeon’s parents, and him and Yifan would take turns piloting it, switching over when one or the other got tired. They were gathered at Junmyeon’s house with their luggage, and a flurry of activity and chaos descended as the boys all tried to load their stuff up and orientate themselves to the ship.

They have all grossly overpacked for the two-week long trip, but Junmyeon can’t bring himself to chastise them. After all, they have more than enough space aboard his parent’s luxurious spaceship. Behind Chanyeol, Sehun drags an alarmingly large suitcase up the ramp, struggling under the weight of it.

“Let me help you, Sehunnie.” Luhan chuckles from aboard the ship as he extends his hands. Sehun breathes a sigh of relief as the suitcase floats out of his hands and glides up the ramp easily.

“Thanks, hyung. I knew there was a reason we kept you around.” Sehun grins cheekily, and promptly gets his head telekinetically smacked.

Behind him, Jongin impressively grabs as many bags as he can physically lay hands on and disappears with a blurry pop. He materialises aboard the ship seconds later and releases the bags in his grip, before vanishing again.

Bit by bit, the ship gets loaded with their belongings and supplies, and soon enough they’re each calling dibs on the rooms and settling themselves in. Yifan is up first for piloting duty, and he runs his final checks at the cockpit. Excitedly, the rest of the gang gathers in the bridge as the ship begins to take off. They huddle around each other, a chorus of ‘ooh’s resounding in the bridge as they watch the ground move further away and they steadily cut through the sky, moving rapidly towards the dark glittering expanse of outer space.

Once past the atmosphere of Exoplanet, Yifan brings the ship to a slow and approaches a satellite station, one of many that orbit the planet. He docks the ship at one of the open hangars, and presses a few buttons. Up on screen, the information and pictures of each passenger on board is displayed, and a robotic voice speaks, “Purpose of exit?”

“Leisure.” Yifan articulates clearly, “We intend to have a two-week long interplanetary trip for the purposes of leisure.”

One by one, the information on screen disappears, and the robotic voice speaks again, “Exit approved. We wish you a safe journey. Goodbye.”

With that, Yifan pilots the ship out of the station and into space once more.

The journey to their first stop takes a few hours, even in warp drive, and the boys take the time to explore the rest of the spaceship. The space ship is about the size of a small house, comfortably fitting all twelve boys and with enough space for a small kitchen area, three bathrooms and a sitting room, fitted with a simple entertainment system. Barely an hour in, and half the boys are already piled onto the couches, playfully wrestling over the gaming console, while the other half raid the kitchen cabinets for snacks. The bridge itself has enough space for two pilots and six more passengers to be buckled in, if needed. By the time they approach the orbit of their destination planet, the boys are comfortably sprawled across the ship and starting to doze off.

When they start their descent onto the planet, Yifan’s voice sounds across the ship through the intercom. “Prepare for landing, guys, we’re almost there.”

The landing is smooth, and the ship docks at the landing bay beside the resort that they will be staying in for the next few days. One by one, they gather up the duffel bags they’ve set aside for this planet and head out. The first planet they’ve arrived in is a planet known for its rich and diverse flora, popularly known as “the largest garden in the galaxy”. Its most iconic landmark is an enormous greenhouse that covers a good quarter of the planet’s surface area, requiring at least a few days to explore fully.

Junmyeon takes the lead and heads into the lobby of the resort to retrieve the keys for two suite apartments. Once they’ve split everyone up into the two suites, they dump their things and head out excitedly to the first quadrant of the greenhouse.

The place is beautiful, to say the least. As the group walk past neat rows of flowering bushes, the boys look around in wonder, taking in the assortment of colours and textures. Back in Exoplanet, there are much fewer species of flowers and all much less grand than the ones on display here.

From somewhere in the middle of the group, Kyungsoo lets a pleased sigh.

“This place has so much positive energy,” He says, a small smile on his lips. “I can feel the earth vibrating with it, like it’s singing.”

“I feel it too,” Yixing chimes in, grinning. “the plants are filled with so much life.”

The rest of their exploration passes in serene relaxation, with even the more boisterous of the bunch quelled by the beauty surrounding them. From the back of the group, Minseok smiles as he watches flowers tilt ever so slightly to face Baekhyun as he walks by.

The next day, they explore the quadrant showcasing native trees and crops, and the colours of yesterday are replaced with vibrant greenery. The tour of this quadrant allows tourists to sample some of the native crops at different stations, and the boys eagerly move from station to station, eager to try alien fruits that are a rarity in Exoplanet. They are in a much more excitable mood today, almost as if the energy they didn’t spend yesterday needed to be burnt off today instead.

Despite Junmyeon’s warning looks, Jongdae and Chanyeol spend a majority of the morning attacking each other with their powers and laughing loudly. Jongdae gets a few good zaps in, making Chanyeol’s hair stand on end, and Chanyeol manages to shoot a few scorches at Jongdae in retaliation. Soon enough, Jongdae’s clothes are charred and sooty.

They go on like this until disaster inevitably happens. Jongdae dodges a small fireball that Chanyeol throws his way, and the group watches in horror as the flame flies into a nearby bush. The fire crackles as it makes contact with the leaves and catches. Before the fire can grow any further, Junmyeon’s hand flies out and a jet of water splashes onto the fire.

Still in shock, the rest of the group stare at the smoking bush as the seconds crawl by. The first to break the silence is Junmyeon.

“Seriously?” He says threateningly, as he turns an angry glare to the two offenders.

Chanyeol gulps in fear. His eyes are wide and his hands already in a defensive position in front of him, as if ready for Junmyeon to attack him at any moment.

“Two days into this trip and you’ve already caused trouble,” The irritation in Junmyeon’s voice is barely suppressed, and Jongdae bows his head in shame (and also because he can’t bear to look Junmyeon in the eyes when he’s angry like this).

With the two boys looking properly remorseful, Junmyeon lets out an exasperated sigh and turns to Yixing.

Without another word, Yixing kneels before the bush and gently holds several charred leaves in his hand. Slowly, the greyish-brown bleeds into green, and the tears and holes stitch themselves back together. Within minutes, the bush looks as good as new.

“Thanks, Yixing,” Junmyeon says, “Now let’s get out of here before we get caught.”

In the following days, Chanyeol and Jongdae are more subdued, properly cowed into their best behaviour, lest they incurred the wrath of Junmyeon again. The third quadrant of the greenhouse showcased plants from other planets in the galaxy, boasting the scope of the planet’s galactic exploration, and the native scientists’ aptitude with plant life, regardless of origin.

The fourth and final quadrant was the most fascinating one yet. On display were hundreds of new plant species created by native scientists, some even showed signs of subtle sentience. From behind glass panels, the boys watch as a luminous purple plant slowly extends its tendrils, and snatches up the small rodent that scurries before it. The rodent squeaks pitifully as the tendril starts to shake it until it eventually becomes giddy and faints. Sehun and Jongin hastily look away before they have to watch the rodent being eaten by the strange plant.

They spend another two days on the planet, chilling out in the resort and exploring some of the other popular tourist attractions. They spend a full day in an amusement park. Jongin and Sehun excitedly drag Zitao onto a rollercoaster, their shouts of excitement drowning out Zitao’s screams.

On their last night, all twelve boys squeeze into one of the suites and lay themselves out across any available surface.

“We’ll set off after breakfast tomorrow,” Junmyeon says from his place on an armchair.

Lying across the floor, Zitao claps his hands happily, “I can’t wait for the next planet.” He declares.

“Three days of nothing but rest and relaxation,” Baekhyun sighs blissfully from next to Minseok, eyes closed as he imagines lounging around in the spa planet that’s next on their holidaying list.

“Yessss” Sehun half-moans as he imagines it too, breaking into giggles from his place on Jongin’s lap when the other pulls him closer.

They spend the rest of the night like this, lounging around and just enjoying each other’s presence. Jongdae looks around him at the people who have been such a big part of his life for the past few years. Through high school and university, they’ve stayed together and gotten closer. Their personalities were so different and yet they worked so well together. He smiles fondly as he watches Yifan whisper something to Yixing and the younger boy giggles himself breathless. He laughs as he watches Chanyeol and Baekhyun pile onto a bed to pester a reading Kyungsoo. The soft fondness in Kyungsoo’s eyes despite his annoyed huff says more than enough.

The next morning, the boys load themselves onto the space ship as Yifan heads to the resort lobby to check them out. Junmyeon makes himself comfortable in the pilot’s seat and goes through the routine of starting up the ship. When he’s done, he calls for the boys to count themselves off and when he hears the last member shout ‘eleven’, he nods and flips the switch to close the ship’s doors. He’s lifting off the ship when Minseok takes the seat next to him and buckles up. Junmyeon smiles, it’s going to be a long flight and he’s more than happy for the company.

Throughout the flight, Junmyeon is visited by several of the other boys and he can’t help but notice how each one brings a different presence with them. Minseok stays by his side for the first few hours, quietly chatting with him and making lame jokes that they both laugh at. With Minseok, Junmyeon feels no pressure to be the ‘responsible mom friend’ and they’re both at ease with each other even when the conversation comes to a lull. After a while, Minseok gets up in search of coffee and the one who takes his place is Zitao, bringing a mug that Minseok had sent along for Junmyeon.

With Zitao, Junmyeon speaks less, happy to listen to the younger ramble on about whatever is on his mind. Junmyeon is especially fond of Zitao, chuckling softly at the way Zitao becomes increasingly animated when talking about something he’s excited about. When Zitao starts listing down all the things he wants to do in the spa planet they’re heading towards, he starts visibly vibrating in his seat and his arms are flying around as he articulates his excitement. However, Zitao’s attention span is much shorter than Minseok’s and he soon wanders of in search of the other boys to entertain him.

Junmyeon sits alone at the cockpit for a while, and he puts on his music playlist, filling the bridge with soft melodies. He’s singing along to a song when he hears his next visitor before seeing him. Jongdae walks up to the pilot seat, harmonising with Junmyeon’s singing and sets down a bowl of snacks next to Junmyeon. When Junmyeon cocks an amused eyebrow at him, Jongdae significantly increases in volume, belting out the last few notes of the song as though the bridge was his personal concert venue. When the song ends, Junmyeon laughs and gives Jongdae a round of applause, to which the younger starts bowing dramatically. With Jongdae around, the bridge becomes much livelier and certainly much noisier. Despite his loud whines towards Junmyeon’s lame jokes, Jongdae always humours him anyway and plays along with whatever Junmyeon says.

Soon enough, Jongdae wanders off as well, and Junmyeon hears heavy footsteps on the bridge. He knows it’s Yifan even before the other says anything, he’s the largest amongst them and is always walking so loudly everywhere he goes. Junmyeon smiles when he feels Yifan’s hands settle on his shoulders and massage gently.

“Want me to take over?” Yifan asks softly, “You’ve been piloting for like seven hours.”

Junmyeon nods and slides out of the pilot’s seat. He stretches his arms above his heads and his back cracks loudly, making Yifan chuckle. When he’s satisfied, Junmyeon settles into the co-pilot’s seat next to Yifan. The two of them sit together at the cockpit for the rest of the flight, talking quietly and relaxing in each other’s presence. They remain oblivious to the other boys sneaking past the bridge entrance and peeping in. They don’t hear the whispers of “don’t go in, mom and dad are having their alone time” and the snickers that come in response.

 

When they finally arrive at their destination planet, all the boys are eagerly clutching their bags and more than ready to hit the spas. The planet is known throughout galaxies to be a luxury holiday destination and houses thousands of resorts all over the planet. The boys have arrived at one of the more well-known resorts and when they alight, they are immediately met with the sight of a bustling lobby filled with tourists of different species, more species that the boys have ever seen. They stand in awe for a while, taking in the grandeur of the resort they are in. Once they manage to recollect themselves and go through the routine of checking into their rooms, the boys break into smaller groups and head out to explore the different amenities that are available at their resort.

Some of the boys head to the area of the resort specialising in skincare treatments, Zitao and Sehun excitedly skipping ahead of the group arm in arm. They enter a large, lushly decorated room with a high ceiling and soothing music playing in the background. They are swiftly approached by employees who introduce the various treatments to them. As they are ushered to their spa tables, a large portrait in the middle of the room distracts Zitao.

The portrait is of a face, or rather of facial features, as it is simply two eyes, a nose and lips upon a beige canvas that is stretched across a metal frame. Below the metal frame sits a bubbling jar of.. something, something pinkish and lumpy. The portrait and the metal frame contrast to the rest of the ambience in the room, standing out sorely in the middle.

“Why would anyone put such a disturbing poster in the middle of the room..?” Zitao frowns, staring at the strange portrait. Beside him, Luhan shrugs.

Suddenly, the eyes on the portrait fly open, and a shrill voice snaps, “Who are you calling disturbing?!”

Zitao shrieks and jerks away from the talking portrait, colliding into Yifan behind him, saved only by Yifan’s steadying arms around him.

An attendant rushes up to the portrait and proceeds to spray it with a nozzle, bowing politely to it before scampering off again. Aghast, the boys stare.

“Oh, I needed that.” The portrait says, “I was starting to dry out.”

“Uhm,” Junmyeon starts, “Hello?”

Beady eyes turn to look over Junmyeon critically before promptly ignoring him to stare down Zitao. “Watch your tone, boy,” the portrait simpers, “I am the Lady Cassandra and I can have you kicked out immediately, if I so wished.”

Zitao paled, and ducked behind Yifan in fear.

“Sorry about that,” Yifan says, “We’re not used to seeing species such as yourself who are so… unique.”

“Well, if I’m anything, it’s special.” Cassandra seemed appeased, “I did not get all those surgeries to be anything less than beautiful, you know.”

“Surgeries?”

“Oh yes, I’ve recently had my chin completely removed.” Cassandra boasts as the attendant returns and sprays her once more. “I’m so thin now! Thin and beautiful!”

“You mean, you used to… have a body?” Luhan speaks up.

“Of course, but that was thousands of years ago when I first start these cosmetic surgeries.”

“You’re thousands of years old?” Sehun blurts, unable to contain his surprise.

“That’s impressive,” Yifan nods seriously, “and your skin is great.”

Junmyeon shoots Yifan a bewildered look, unsure if Yifan was sincerely complimenting Cassandra.

“I’m a regular at this spa, almost a permanent resident at this point,” Cassandra laughs, “I need to be constantly moisturised or I’ll dry out, but that is the price of beauty that I am more than happy to pay.”

While Yifan continues to ask Cassandra more questions, the others have already started to lose interest and would, frankly, like to move away from the creepy sight of skin stretched across a metal frame that was Cassandra as quickly as possible.

They head towards different tables and try their best to forget about the strange encounter in favour of relaxing as attendants apply various masks and balms onto their face and bodies.

 

On another corner of the resort, some of the boys listen intently to an attendant as she promotes the resort’s latest slimming technology to them.

“Our Adipose technology allows you to lose fats without doing anything!” The attendant says in a cheerful voice. “All you need to do is take one pill and let the science do the rest! It’ll be like the fat just walks away! While it works, you may peruse our many hot springs and baths!”

‘It’s safe right?” Minseok asks, brows furrowed as he studies the pamphlet they’ve been given.

“Of course!” The attendant chirps, “We’ve had many customers who tried this treatment and loved it!”

“Well, I’m convinced,” Baekhyun shrugs and pops a pill into his mouth, downing it with a glowing purple drink they had been given.

At this, both Chanyeol and Jongdae shrug too and down their own pills. Exasperated, Minseok takes one last lingering look at the pamphlet before taking his own pill. If they face complications from the treatment and die, at least Minseok can say he tried.

The attendant beams and ushers them into the next room, showing them the different types of baths and explaining their soothing properties. Minseok wants to try the one with muscle relaxants and floral scents while Baekhyun wants to try the one with the most bubbles, but the gang aren’t willing to part ways so eventually they manage to compromise on something that is both soothing and bubbly.

They disrobe and gingerly step into the warmth of the jacuzzi, but not before Jongdae sends a jolt flying towards Chanyeol’s abdomen. Chanyeol is about to retaliate, hands already heating up, when snowballs fly into both their faces, effectively shutting them up. They turn to a glaring Minseok who has a finger pointed threateningly at the two of them.

“You better not,” Minseok growls at Chanyeol, then he turns to Jongdae, “and you better not do that again in the water or I’m going to kill you myself if the electrocution doesn’t do it first.”

The eldest gets angry rarely enough that it is scary enough to make the boys quickly nod their heads in submission.

The boys soak in the fragrant tub for almost an hour when the rumbling starts. Baekhyun is the first to feel his stomach rumbling and he looks down to see his tummy undulating unnaturally. It doesn’t hurt but it’s a freaky enough sight to make him yell out loud. When they catch sight of Baekhyun’s tummy, Chanyeol and Jongdae let out yells of their own. Their yelling gets louder when they start to feel their own stomach rumbling too. Suddenly a gurgling bump starts protruding out of Baekhyun’s tummy and the yelling dies down as the boys stare in horror. When the bump pops right out of his skin, the screaming resumes. Amidst the chaos and the noise, Baekhyun has enough sense left to assess his tummy and realise that he’s not actually in any pain, so he stops screaming.

Unfortunately, Chanyeol and Jongdae continue screaming as their own tummies start protruding blobs and their volume only increases when the blobs eventually pop off as well. They quickly come to the same conclusion as Baekhyun did and quieten down when they realise they’re not about to die, and they all watch as white blobs float to the surface of the tub. Just then, Minseok’s tummy starts rumbling too, but having just witnessed the ridiculous chaos that were his friends, he remains much calmer and much more quiet. They watch as he, too, produces a blob of his own.

The white blobs are the size of a large potato and the shape of marshmallows. The blobs have little smiling faces and have little hands and stumpy feet. They float happily between the four of them, waving at them and making little squealing noises. Just then, an attendant rushes in, seemingly having heard the commotion and arriving to investigate. Upon seeing the blobs, she realises the situation.

“Oh! It seems the treatment has completed its first cycle!” The attendant says, “I must have forgotten to tell you that this would happen. My apologies, sirs.”

“Uh” Chanyeol starts dumbly.

“What.” Jongdae completes.

“What the treatment does is attract all your fats and turns it into this sentient Adipose.” The attendant explains, “Not to worry, it won’t leave any negative effects on your bodies, and they’re only babies, so they’re quite harmless.”

“Well,” Jongdae says, gathering one of the Adipose into his hands “they are pretty cute.”

“Aww yeah, they are!” Baekhyun lifts one up to take a closer look and the Adipose giggles at him, its little feet swinging.

“We’re playing with living blobs of our own fat,” Minseok says, disbelief in his voice, “I can’t decide if this is absolutely disturbing or total genius.”

“Can we keep them?” Baekhyun pipes up, looking expectantly at the attendant.

“Unfortunately, the Adipose will need to be returned back to their home planet where their new family awaits them.”

Baekhyun pouts at that, turning back to the blob in his hands. He uses a finger to tickle its belly and it gurgles happily, squirming in his palm. He turns back to the attendant with an even more intense pout.

The attendant smiles apologetically, “I can let you play with them for today?”

Baekhyun perks up and nods, turning back to the Adipose.

Before the attendant turns to leave, Minseok speaks up, “Are more of them going to be popping out of our bodies?”

“Well, a fatter customer would certainly produce more, but seeing as you came in relatively slim already, it’s unlikely there will be any more.”

“Okay, that’s good to know, thanks.”

“No problem, sir.” The attendant bows as she takes her leave, “Let me know if I may be of any further assistance.”

By the end of the day, the four of them grow rather attached to the adipose that the attendant almost feels bad taking them away from the boys. Even Minseok, who was wary of them in the beginning, has trouble saying his final goodbyes to the little creatures.

After several days of exploring the other amenities and getting thoroughly pampered, the boys finally pack up and are ready to leave. Well, “ready” is a generous word. If given the choice, several of them would have stayed forever, but unfortunately, the itinerary has been planned and the trip must go on. Zitao and Sehun spend their last hours there dramatically saying goodbye to various inanimate objects.

“Goodbye, luxury toilet.” Zitao sniffles, running his hands over the crystal bathtub in their suite.

“Goodbye, hot stone massages.” Sehun moans, stroking the advertising poster on the wall.

“Goodbye, scented hotsprings.” Zitao wails, looking mournfully out of their balcony in the general direction of said springs. Behind him, Yixing and Jongin fall over each other in laughter.

When they finally get everyone into the ship and take off, Sehun and Zitao stand in front of a window, clutching each other and waving sadly at the planet as it shrinks from view.

“Zitao, you literally could have frozen time so you could stay in the resort longer.” Luhan smirks.

Zitao whips around almost violently at that, nearly tipping Sehun off balance. “Oh my god! You’re right! Why didn’t I think of that?!” He yells, distraught at the wasted opportunity.

“Um, no? If you had frozen time, all the attendants would be frozen too, and nobody will be there to give you massages.” Minseok rolls his eyes, both at Zitao’s over-reaction and at Luhan’s dumb idea.

“Oh.” Zitao visibly deflates and plops himself down on the couch next to Yifan, getting a sympathetic pat on the head.

“Don’t be sad,” Yixing consoles, “We have more adventures awaiting us.”

 

Before they arrive at the next planet, the ship lands on a synthetic moon in the planet’s orbit that was designed as a rest stop for spaceships. When they arrive, the place is surprisingly empty. There was no signs of any other tourists or even any attendants on duty. It would have been eerily quiet if not for the whirring of machines as several drones fly towards their ship and immediately start on refuelling.

An automated screen flies towards the group and Minseok steps forward to take a look at it. When he presses "Start" on screen, the machine starts talking with the voice of a cheerful young man.

"Hello, and welcome to the Rest-stop Moon, the galaxy's first fully-automated rest stop! Everything here is handled by our state-of-the-art machinery, and we aim to provide only the best service possible! What would you like to do first?"

"Oh, that must be why there isn't anyone around," Sehun mumbles.

Minseok looks through the options on screen with Junmyeon leaning in behind him and reading over his shoulder. Equally curious, Jongin materialises beside Minseok and peers at the screen. He clicks on the "resupply" button and is taken to a menu page, with dozens of choices on the types of supplies they can get here.

By now, most of the gang has crowded around the machine, noisily chattering away on the types of foods and snacks they want. It takes a good 20 minutes before they finally go through all the options available and place their order.

Almost immediately, more drones fly out from the control station with boxes in tow, neatly depositing the boxes in stacks by the ship door. Once unloaded, the drones hover around, as if waiting for further instructions or requests.

"Thanks!" Yixing says cheerfully, fascinated by the drones. The drones make a whirring beeping noise as if to say 'you're welcome' and fly off, taking Yixing's thanks as a dismissal.

Having refuelled and bought supplies, the boys grab a box each and head back up into the space ship, taking off for the nearby tourist planet.

 

When they make their landing and exit the ship, they are immediately greeted by a faceless white humanoid robot that ambles up to them.

“Welcome! How may I be of assistance?” The robotic voice says.

“No thanks, we’re good.” Junmyeon says politely.

“Please allow me to assist you. How may I be of assistance?” The robot repeats.

“Wow, pushy robot.” Luhan mumbles under his breath and Minseok snickers from beside him.

“Um, okay… You could direct us to the hotel reception?” Junmyeon says, eyebrows furrowed, even though the entrance to the hotel lobby is within sight behind where they have their ship parked.

The robot makes an affirmative beep and turns around, ambling towards the hotel building. Yifan shrugs at the quizzical look Junmyeon shoots him and follows the robot.’

Inside, the lobby is impressively decorated, a sophisticated mix of both modern and classic, with winged marble statues standing alongside holographic interfaces and android employees. It should have brought a strange contrast, but it surprisingly works to create an elegant ambience. They are greeted by a holographic receptionist who goes through the check-in procedures with them, while another robot approaches them and offers to take their bags.

“No thanks, I can manage.” Zitao says to the robot, holding on to his bag. Most of them had not packed heavily, they were only planning to stay for a few days. The robot turns its faceless head to Zitao and a beam of light shoots out from it and scans Zitao from head to toe. Startled by the light, Zitao yelps and jumps back, clutching his bag to his chest as if it could protect him.

The boys turn to him in alarm, staring as the robot makes more beeping noises and leaves. Eyes wide, Yifan turns to the holographic receptionist. “What was that?” He demands.

“What was what, sir?” The holographic receptionist asks, wide smile and bright eyes flickering lightly as the hologram wavers.

“That!” Yifan gestures at where Zitao stands, “Why did that robot just scan him?”

“I’m afraid I do not compute your inquiry.” The hologram continues smiling, “Our service bots are not programmed to do such a thing. It is only capable of menial tasks and labour.”

“Well, it just scanned me! It’s definitely capable!” Zitao exclaims, cheeks flushed.

“I’m sorry, I am unable to compute your needs. Would you like to contact a manager?”

The boys turn to Zitao, waiting for his decision, and he squirms under the attention.

“Never mind.” He mumbles, “At least it didn’t hurt..”

“You sure?” Minseok asks, his hand on Zitao’s shoulder.

Zitao nods and they let the matter rest. Well, it wouldn’t be a real holiday unless something weird happened at least once, right?

 

They pair up and head up to their respective rooms, regrouping after a few hours in search of dinner. When they head to the hotel restaurant, it is bustling with patrons of various species, and they just manage to get two tables that are side by side for all twelve of them.

Tonight’s special is a galactic buffet, featuring the best delicacies from this galaxy, allowing guests to sample the highlights of each planet without having to travel to all of them. The boys excitedly grab their plates and head towards the buffet line.

Their plates are piled high even before they are halfway through all the options available and they quickly return for second plates. As Sehun makes a beeline for the buffet line with an empty plate, he bumps into another guest, having eyes only for the food and failing to see the alien in his way.

“I’m so sorry!” Sehun blurts, stumbling a little as he tries not to drop his plate.

The alien does not respond, does not even turn to look at Sehun. It jerks minutely before continuing on its path. Baffled, Sehun stares at the other guest and watches as it walks stiffly back to its own table and sits down. The other guests at its table do not react to its arrival and merely continue lifting their spoons to their mouths.

Jongin brushes past him with his third plate and Sehun is quickly distracted, gravitating towards the food once again. When his plate is sufficiently piled high, he returns to his table. As he takes his seat, he tells the others at the table about his encounter with the alien.

“It’s so weird that it didn’t even react to me...” Sehun mumbles, mouth half full.

“Maybe it’s a cultural difference.” Minseok shrugs.

The others hum in agreement, not thinking much of it and mostly preoccupied with the delicious food before them. Only Kyungsoo’s attention remain on the table where Sehun had pointed out the alien.

“Guys?” Kyungsoo speaks up after a few moments, “Those people aren’t actually eating.”

The other boys at the table turn to look and realise that Kyungsoo is right. The guests at the table are only moving their cutlery up and down, but are not actually putting anything in their mouths or chewing. There is a vacancy in their eyes that is distinctly lifeless.  
Kyungsoo looks around at the other tables and see the same thing. All the other aliens of various species, aside from the twelve of them, are simply moving their cutlery up and down. Their mouths do not move, but the sounds of chatter permeate the restaurant.

“Okay, definitely not a cultural thing then.” Minseok whispers, looking around with wide eyes.

Slowly, quietly, Minseok stands from his table and makes his way over to the next table where the other half of the boys are sitting and laughing among themselves, still oblivious to their surroundings. He leans down and whispers in Junmyeon’s ears, the other boys quieten down when they notice Junmyeon’s eyes widen in shock. He scans the restaurant to take a look for himself, his face turns pale with horror as he observes the other guests.

“Okay guys, be cool but I think we need to go,” Junmyeon says lowly. Before the other boys can interrupt him, he continues “Don’t be obvious but take a look around. I don’t think any of the other guests are real.”

The others try to subtly look around, but the tension in the air is palpable and in their silence, they realise that the indistinct chatter of the restaurant has stopped. In its place, the soft click-click-click of gears can be heard as the other guests continue to raise their cutlery up and down.

They slowly stand to leave, but every other guest rises as well, turning towards them. As the boys take a step towards the exit, the other guests take a step towards them. Eyes wide, the boys freeze in their tracks. They take a step back and the guests likewise retreat.  
Luhan raises an arm and pushes back some of the guests that are at the tables closest to them. They remain expressionless, showing no reaction to being moved by an invisible force.

“Jongin,” Junmyeon whispers, “Can you get us out of here?”

“I can’t take everyone at once,” Jongin frowns, “I can take about four others at most.”

“Hm, it’s okay,” Junmyeon thinks, “Then Zitao?”

Zitao nods. He focuses his energy and feels a shift in the atmosphere. The clicking of gears stop and Zitao manoeuvres his way around his friends, touching each of them to unfreeze them and they safely make their way out of the restaurant. Once outside, they make a run for it before Zitao’s time-freeze wears out.

They get just past the corner of the corridor before the diners are reanimated and they hear the marching of mechanical feet. Before they can get very far, they run into more of the faceless white robots from before and the group skids to a stop. This time, there’s three of them, standing at the end of the hallway and blocking their escape path. Behind them, the marching gets louder.

“What do you want with us?!” Luhan shouts at the three white robots. He gets no response, except another beam of light that scans him.

“Okay, I don’t know why they’re scanning us but no one else approach it, got it?” Yifan speaks up as he pulls Luhan back.

“Let me scorch them.” Chanyeol says, pushing his way to the front of the group.

“No, wait!” Minseok grabs him, “We don’t know what they’re capable of, it’s better if we just try to put as much distance between us and them as possible.”

Behind them, a thick wall of ice rises from the floor, forming a barrier between them and the mechanical diners that are quickly approaching.

“But we’re still trapped here by those three!” Sehun says, turning to Minseok for more good ideas.

“Wait, the door to the ballroom is right behind them,” Kyungsoo pipes up, pointing to large grand doors at the side of the hallway, “which means….”

He approaches the wall that separates them and the ballroom, and punches it. The wall blows to pieces under the force of his fist and the group scrambles to run through the hole in the wall and away from the faceless white robots.

Once in the ballroom, they run towards the exit on the other end of the room. When they swing open the doors, they find themselves face to face with a statue. The marble angel stands looming over them, its hands raised to its face as if it was crying.

“What the hell?” Zitao says, “Who puts a statue in front of a doorway?”

“I got it,” Luhan says, extending outstretched palms to push it out of the way. When nothing happens, the rest of the group turn to look at him.

“I can’t move it,” Luhan says, eyebrows furrowed. He tries again, hands pushing into the air more forcefully. “Look, I don’t know what it is but that’s not marble. It’s not just heavy but it feels strong too, like it can resist my powers.”

“Let me try?” Kyungsoo says, stepping forward to physically push at the statue.

Before he can touch it, Junmyeon cries out. “Wait don’t touch it! I know what it is!”

They all turn to Junmyeon in bewilderment, but Junmyeon keeps his eyes firmly fixed on the statue.

“Everyone keep your eyes on it!” Junmyeon exclaims. When the other boys only respond with confused looks, Junmyeon starts shrieking. “It’s a Weeping Angel!”

Minseok gasps in understanding, twirling around to look at the angel. “Everyone look at it! It’ll kill us if we look away!”

Successfully petrified, the boys fix their eyes on the unmoving statue. Behind them, they hear the other door to the ballroom swing open. Their eyes widen, wanting to check what had just entered, but too afraid to look away from the angel.

“Alright,” Yifan finally says, “everyone, keep looking at the angel, I’ll turn around.”

When met with murmurs of agreement, Yifan tears his eyes away from the angel to turn around. What he’s greeted with is not much of an improvement, the three faceless white robots from before have managed to enter the ballroom and are approaching them.

“Shit,” Yifan curses, “It’s the robots from the hallway.”

Thinking fast, Minseok turns around and encases the robots in a massive block of ice. When he turns around to look back at the angel, he notices something he hadn’t before. There are several more angels behind it, standing along the hallway. Even if they somehow managed to get rid of the one at the door, they would still be trapped in by all the others.

“Maybe my timefreeze will work again,” Zitao suggests.

“Do it!” Chanyeol shouts, “My eyes can’t take it anymore!”

When the atmosphere shifts once more and his friends freeze, Zitao breathes a sigh of relief as he furiously blinks his eyes, trying to get some moisture back onto them. When he looks at the angel once more, he screams.

The angel had moved, its face was no longer covered by its hands, but its lifeless stone eyes were looking directly at Zitao. Panicked, Zitao drops his hold on time and his friends are reanimated.

“Its moved!” Jongin shouts.

“I’m sorry!” Zitao cries, backing away from the statue that was still staring at him. “I don’t know what happened! I froze time but this thing could still move!”

“Oh my god, I think I know why,” Junmyeon speaks up, “The Weeping Angels feed on time energy, they must not be affected by your powers.”

“Everyone, let’s just back away from it.” Minseok says calmly, although a hint of fear seeps through his act.

“Hyung, my eyes really hurt.” Jongdae whines. Minseok’s heart aches at his voice, its not Jongdae’s usual whining, this time its laced with terror and his voice almost cracks.

“Alright, everyone, take turns to blink. There’s twelve of us, surely one of us will be looking at it at any moment.”

Junmyeon could not have said it sooner, when suddenly they found the weeping angel closer to them. It was now in the room, and had one outstretched arm pointed at the ceiling lights. Suddenly, the lights started flickering, plunging the room into brief darkness. With each flicker of darkness, the angels inched closer and closer.

“Its trying to cut the lights!” Junmyeon gasps.

“Not while I’m here, its not.” Baekhyun says, a ball of light already forming between his palms. Just as the angels blow the bulbs completely, Baekhyun throws the ball of light up into the air, keeping the room illuminated.

They breathe a sigh of relief, though their ordeal is far from over. In all the commotion, the boys had been distracted enough to take their eyes off the angels, even for a second, and there are several more angels in the room. One of them has a ferocious expression, sharp teeth bared and unmoving face contorted with rage. Its arm is raised, with a sharp stone finger pointed directly at Zitao.

“Why is it pointing at me?” Zitao asks hysterically, “hyung, help!”

“Okay, calm down,” Minseok grabs Zitao’s arm and pulls him further away from the angel. “I think it senses time energy in you from your powers.”

“It wants to eat me?!” Zitao is almost screaming by now, and the other boys stiffen at the thought.

“Kyungsoo, can you punch another way out for us?” Minseok asks.

The shorter boy nods and heads towards a wall. With a swift punch, the bricks give way and crumble down the side of the building.

“Oh no, it’s the side of the building, we’re two-storeys up.” Kyungsoo informs. He runs to the other wall on the opposite side and punches again. “Shit, there are more angels here.” He says, backing away.

“We have to jump.” Yifan says. “I can carry two people with me, Jongin you take four.”

“What?!” Junmyeon shrieks, “What about the others?”

“No wait, I think this could work.” Luhan shouts, “I can levitate myself down, and Sehun can bolster his fall with his power.”

“Right,” Kyungsoo says, “and I can just jump, I’m strong enough to survive two-storeys.”

“Well, that still leaves one of us!” Zitao cries out, still extremely unnerved at being the target of the strange murderous statues.

“Junmyeon!” Minseok exclaims, “You can create a pool of water to bolster your fall too!”

“Okay fine! Let’s do it!” Junmyeon says, “Those who can get down on their own, go first so Jongin knows who to grab.”

With half of the group gone, there are significantly less eyes looking at the angels and they start advancing between blinks. With seconds to spare, the remaining few latch on to Jongin and they disappear.

Once they reappear by the group outside, Minseok throws his arms forward and the hole in the wall is patched up with ice, trapping the angels inside.

Safe for now, the boys take a moment to access themselves and check that everyone is unharmed. Breathing heavily, they take in their surroundings. They are in what seems to be a garden, on the ground is a large crater where Kyungsoo had landed. Further away from the building, there is a pool.

“I don’t know what the hell is going on here, but we need to get away from this hotel.” Baekhyun says, marching resolutely to where their ship was parked.

“But our stuff is in the rooms!” Zitao whines.

“Forget your stuff, Zitao! Do you want to go back in there where those angel things are?” Baekhyun yells, grabbing hold of Zitao’s hand and dragging him along.

Zitao’s face pales at the memory of the weeping angels and is effectively quietened. The rest of the group follow Baekhyun’s lead, eager to get as far away from the hotel as possible.

When their spaceship comes into view, the boys break into a run. Just as it seems they would finally be able to escape, a blinding blue beam barely misses them, scorching the grass by Sehun’s feet. They whip around, searching for the source of the beam. A group of aliens stand across the field with large guns pointed at them. Their red leathery faces are contorted into sneers, baring sharp blue teeth. The tallest amongst them steps forward, gun still raised and pointed at them.

“Not so fast,” He chuckles, “we’re not done with you yet.”

“What do you want from us?” Luhan shouts, barely held back by Minseok and Sehun at his sides.

“Oh? A fierce little one,” The alien coos, inciting laughs from his gang of thugs. “Well, we want a lot from you indeed. You lot are a special bunch, aren’t you? We picked up your energy from planets away. It’s not often we get such a large group of powered people outside of Exoplanet.”

“What are you talking about?” Chanyeol speaks through gritted teeth, his clenched fists heating up. The alien’s pocket beeps lowly, and he pulls out a device. He raises it in their directions and makes an impressed hum.

“Such high energy levels,” the alien whistles, “we could use a guy like you.”

“Enough of this!” Chanyeol growls, and a fireball shoots towards the gang of aliens.

The leader of the gang dodges it easily, and fires at Chanyeol. Jongdae pushes Chanyeol out of the way, getting hit by the blue beam instead and crashing to the ground from the impact.

Junmyeon screams, dropping to Jongdae’s side and propping his limp form upright. Before Yixing can get to them, Jongdae’s eyes fly open and he gasps loudly.

“Holy crap, that was a strong current.” Jongdae says, clutching at his chest.

“Impressive, kid,” The gang leader smirks, “a beam like that electrocutes most people. Of course, that was the least of what we can do to you if you don’t cooperate.”

“Like hell we are.” Kyungsoo spits, his foot stomps forward and a giant boulder rises from the soil between them and the gang of aliens. It provides enough of a distraction to allow them to make a break for their ship.

They’re almost at the door of their ship when the beams start shooting at them again. The boys throw caution to the wind, lashing out with all they’ve got. As inexperienced in combat as they are, they put up a decent fight.

With a wave of his arm, Luhan sends their weapons flying, and Chanyeol throws more fireballs. Still holding onto a limping Jongdae with one arm, Junmyeon sends a jet of water into the face of an alien that’s running towards them and Jongdae sends sparks into the jet. The alien convulses as the charged water drenches him and he drops to the floor, smoking and singed.

Jongin grabs hold of Yifan and disappears into the ship. He teleports back out into the chaos as Yifan scrambles to get the ship started. Outside, Jongin reaches for Junmyeon and Jongdae, popping back into the ship with them in tow.

“I’ll get the ship door open!” Yifan shouts, reaching for the switch.

“We don’t have time! I’ll just bring them in.” Jongin shouts in return before disappearing again with a loud pop.

He goes on like this, grabbing his friends and dropping them off in the ship before disappearing and going to retrieve another.

The last to be brought in are Kyungsoo and Minseok, who are doing a strong job fending off the alien thugs. Kyungsoo sends chucks of rock flying from the ground and Minseok freezes them mid-flight, turning them into formidable weapons. As if the force of a flying boulder wasn’t enough to take out any enemies headed their way, the shattering of frozen rock upon impact with the ground take out a few more within range.

By the time Jongin gets to them, the ship is already taking off and they appear in the ship just as the thrusters send them hurtling away from the hotel. Looking out the window, Minseok sees the thugs running for their own ship.

“They’re coming after us,” Minseok pants, adrenaline pumping from the fight.

“Not if we make it into warp first.” Junmyeon says, sliding into the co-pilot’s seat beside Yifan and turns up some dials.

Yifan nods, pushing the control stick forward. The boys watch as the environment around the ship starts to blur as the ship accelerates.

They are riding through hyperspace when Baekhyun looks out the window and gasps loudly. Close on their tail is the ship of the alien thugs, somehow able to track and follow them in hyperspace.

“They’re still following us!” Baekhyun exclaims, faced pressed against the window.

Chanyeol is at his side immediately, peering through the glass to see for himself. He growls lowly and turns to Jongin.

“Jongin, take me in there.”

“What? Why?” Jongin pales.

“What exactly do you plan on doing?!” Jongdae shouts, “You think you can take all of them on? Are you crazy?!”

“I’ll go supernova!” Chanyeol shouts back, “I’ll blow their whole ship up!”

“And after you’ve blown their ship, how exactly are you planning to survive in deep space?” Minseok snaps, “Are you planning to sacrifice yourself?”

That effectively shuts Chanyeol up, the fire in his eyes dying and giving way to desperation. He looks between Minseok and Jongin, trying to think of a better way out of this mess. Seeing the look on his face, Minseok sighs. He reaches out and squeezes Chanyeol’s shoulder gently.

“I know you want to help,” Minseok says softly, his hand moving to cradle Chanyeol’s nape gently, “but the last thing we need is one of us doing something reckless and getting hurt. We can figure something out, together.”

Chanyeol squeezes his eyes shut, head dropping to Minseok’s shoulder as he takes a deep breath. He nods his head and when he looks up again, he sees a familiar look of fear in his friends’ faces.

They’re all just as scared as he is, but Minseok was right, now was not the time for acts of bravado. These boys mean everything to Chanyeol, and the last thing he wants to do is hurt any one of them by accident. They needed to stay calm and work together.

Chanyeol turns to Minseok, “What should we do?”

Minseok takes a deep breath and turns to the rest of the group. He looks to Junmyeon and Yifan in the pilot seats, fingers flying across the console as they try to put as much distance between them and their pursuers. With them occupied, the others look to Minseok for guidance instead.

“Well,” Minseok speaks slowly, considering his words, “there’s twelve of us here with powers, and those aliens themselves said that we were strong. We may not be trained like the peacekeepers back home, and our individual abilities are not that strong, but I’m sure we can defeat them if we combined our powers”

“Our best bet is to take out their ship,” Luhan speaks up, “once we do that, we’d be able to get away.”

Sehun nods, “Once we’re back in Exoplanet, we’d be safe. They wouldn’t dare intrude on fortified orbit space.”

“Right,” Zitao perks up, “maybe Jongin and I could get in, we’d be able to immobilise them, but it’d only last as long as my timefreeze does...”

“And neither of us know how to disable a ship.” Jongin mutters.

“You could bring me?” Chanyeol says, “I could start a blast and you two bring us out before it fully blows.”

“That’s too risky.” Yixing shakes his head, “What if they don’t react in time?”

“Well, then take Jongdae instead,” Baekhyun pipes up, “he could fry their circuits, shut down the whole ship without anyone getting hurt.”

“That could work,” Minseok says, he chews his lips as he considers the plan. “Let’s do it.”

Jongin nods, taking hold of Zitao and Jongdae’s hands. Taking a last look at their friends, he squeezes their hands and teleports.

Once the three boys vanish in a blur, the other boys press themselves against the windows, intently watching the other ship. The silence hangs heavy in the air as they watch and wait for any sign of activity in the ship. Even Yifan and Junmyeon have stopped their scrambling, gazes fixed on the wide screen that displays the figures that show the distance between them and the incoming ship. For minutes, it seems as if they’ve all stopped breathing.

Then, the lights shining through the windows of the enemy ship flicker into darkness, and the blue glow of the engine dims out. The breath stutters in their lungs as the boys press themselves closer to the window.

The silence is broken by the familiar pop of Jongin’s materialisation. The group tear themselves away from the window and whip around to the direction of the noise. When they see Jongin, Jongdae and Zitao standing in the middle of the ship with wide grins, the group swarms to them.

Baekhyun lets out a loud sob as he throws himself into Jongdae’s arms and Minseok laughs through the tears in his eyes as he ruffles Baekhyun’s hair. Kyungsoo and Sehun press themselves into opposite sides of Jongin, Sehun’s face buried in Jongin’s neck as he tries to hide his tears. Yixing flits between the three, hands flying over their bodies, accessing for injuries. When he finds none, he presses even closer to them, refusing to let go anyway. Even Yifan and Junmyeon leave their seats to crowd into Zitao’s space, pressing him between them. Stretching his arms wide, Chanyeol pulls all of them in and they stand there for minutes, huddled together and holding tightly onto each other, tears streaming down their faces.

They’re safe now, and they have each other. That’s all any of them need. 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much to the mods of this fest, who have been nothing short of patient and understanding throughout this whole thing. They are, without a doubt, some of the best mods I have had the pleasure of working with, and are certainly one of the stars (heh) of this fest.
> 
> I had a lot of fun writing this fic and there are still a few headcanons and scenes that I wanted to include but couldn't quite figure out how to add in. Perhaps, I may return to this fic some day and update it again ;)


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